From despair to hope... #Romance #Literary

Waiting On Hope
by T.M. Souders


She stepped to the ledge of the balcony, welcoming death—and the mercy it offered.
Three more steps and she would be free. One. Two.
The sudden bang on the door made Lexie jump. She stood, her toes curling over the cool, rough, concrete, only inches from the edge of descent.
Gripping the chair next to her, she tried to concentrate. She raised her arms straight out from her sides like an airplane. The morning air, cool on her skin, wrapped around her in a soft caress. She visualized the jump, the slap of wind on her face and in her hair. She didn’t flinch from the thought of the agony of impact, which may come before the blessed numbness. After all, she was no stranger to pain.
Opening her eyes, she glanced down at her feet. Without a railing, the unguarded slab of stone made for easy access to the waiting street below. She straightened her toes, no longer supported by the balcony.
The banging on the door persisted, making it hard for her to think. She tried to ignore the interruption, but the caller’s persistence made blocking out the sound impossible. Behind the pounding she heard a voice—one she recognized.
“Lexie, open up. Let me in. What the hell are you doing out there? You’re going to get yourself killed. Lex?” Sienna continued to call through the door.
Lexie glanced from the inside of her apartment back to the street below. Traffic loomed, along with the occasional pedestrian. She cursed Sienna for interfering. Why did she show up now?
All she needed was one more step, but the insistent banging outside her door thumped in the background of her mind, jarring the still thoughts of death from where they perched. She would have to wait.

Kill Town, USA: Redneck Zombies, The Turn #Horror #Speculative

Kill Town, USA

by Joseph Love


From the doorway, we stared at a heavy woman with her arms tied by leather reins to the bed, her face pale and stained with blood. In fact, the whole room looked to have been sprayed with blood—streaked on the floor, puddled near a washbasin, and spattered across the wall and window. The front of her nightgown clung to her skin. But she writhed. She was alive. She twisted and contorted her body in the restraints. There was no noise except the rustling of the sheets. Her eyes open and lifeless, she must have turned several days ago. I couldn’t imagine the struggle to get her tied to the bed.
“She was ill a few days before she come out the room with a nosebleed. Worst I ever seen. When I tried to wipe it for her she bit me. Like I wasn’t—like she didn’t know me from anything.” Sewell unzipped his jumpsuit and revealed the wide bite mark on his shoulder. It had partially scabbed over and was deeply bruised.

Can a future exist when all hope is lost? #Romance

Always There

by K T King


“Are you sure you don’t want a lift Kell?” Rachel asked as Mike and Laura clambered into her car.
“I’m sure. Jake said he’d pick me up after his meeting. He must be running late.” Kelly checked the road to see if she could spot his car, the wind hitting her face and threatening to knock her down.
“Try ringing him again. If he doesn’t answer I’m giving you a lift, I don’t want you hanging around in the dark on your own, especially not in this weather.”
“Ok. Hang on.” Kelly rang Jake’s mobile for the tenth time, it went straight to answer phone. She sat in the front seat of the car and cursed Jake, under her breath, for showing her up in front of her friends. Laura smirked to herself.
“It’s not a problem Kell. There’s bound to be a reasonable explanation. Jake never goes back on his word.” Mike reassured her.
“Yeah, you’re right.” Kelly replied as she seethed and gritted her teeth all the way home, thinking that no explanation would be reasonable enough for him to forget her.
“Thanks guys, it was great to catch up again. How about same time, same place next week?” Kelly asked climbing out of the car.
“Yeah, let’s do it. We don’t spend enough time with each other anymore. We’re starting to grow apart, and I for one, don’t like it. Oh and make sure Jake comes too, I could do with some decent eye candy!” Mike answered chuckling.

Caught with his hand in the cookie jar... #MysterySuspense #Romance

Playing Fields

by Karen Stillwagon


“Oh Baby, if I can’t have you now my balls are going to burst!” Good lord there have been many bad lines muttered in a bar but this is by far the worst. But I agreed to take the case and I was here to do a job. But if I had to deal with this guy for too much longer I’d have to hurt him. Finding him was easy. He was the one making his rounds to all the single women, and subsequently getting rejected by the same. The night was too young and the crowd too sober for him to find any takers. After securing a place at the bar where crowd was in view, I lean over to order a drink, wearing my black sundress that fits like a glove, my breasts all but falling out, and Charlie makes his approach.

My name is Cassidy Fields. My job is to follow husbands...

From "Dancing with Spirits" by Carol Arnall

It was cold – a dank clinging cold that seemed to be inside the very marrow of my bones. My feet slipped on the wet muddy ground and I pulled my deerskin cloak closer, but even that brought no comfort. I was so unbelievably cold and wet. Normally, the soft supple skin would enfold me within its warmth and comfort; pictures would form in my mind of the generations of deer that had gone before my time on this earth. Today, the herds were but a distant memory as the weather closed in on me, Grandmamma and my 11-year-old sister, Trieainia. ‘Oh for the warmth of a fire,’ I thought, slipping and sliding on the muddy, sandy ground. I drew nearer to my Grandmamma for warmth and reassurance. The mist continued to swirl around; creating strange shapes, transforming the winter trees into mystical, ghostly forms, making me think of weird creatures waiting to pounce on us. The tree branches, outstretched like big cat claws, loomed towards us and they seemed to be calling and drawing us nearer and nearer through the ghostly mist that hung and hovered, drifting through the tree branches.

From "I.O.U. Sex" by Sandy Nachlinger and Sandra Allen

Friends June, Kiki, and Peggy are reading June's high school diary -- decades after graduation...

Peggy hiccupped, then chuckled. “Oh, Lordy, that was a long time ago.” She crunched another handful of candy. “It’s hard to believe the three of us were really that naïve back in high school—so different from teenaged girls today. And just think of our poor boyfriends. We’d get them all worked up, then send them home with little more than a goodnight kiss.”

Kiki rolled her eyes. “Shit, if I’d known then what I know now, things would have been very different. When I think of the staying power of those eighteen-year-old guys . . .” She sighed. “Too bad we wasted it.”

Peggy put her hand over her mouth to keep her drink from spewing out with her laughter. “Please, I’m serious. Those boys must have felt as sad as a fiddle with one string. So disappointed, so . . . unfulfilled. It must have been hard on them.”

“Unfulfilled?” June grinned. “That’s priceless.”

Kiki arched an eyebrow. “That’s also an understatement if I ever heard one, but you’re sure right about the hard part.”

From "Leaves of the Fall" by Violet Yates

“Hey, what’s going on with Trevor?” Rose asked.

“What do you mean?”

“He’s been acting weird, flying off the handle. And the other night, I found him down at The Donut Shoppe hanging with some girl.”

Ethan sighed into the phone, and from the popping sound in the background, Rose could tell he was opening a beer.

“I haven’t even talked to him outside of work lately. I don’t know what his deal is. Wish I did,” Ethan said. He paused for a moment and then he said, “Ahh. That hits the spot.”

“Ethan, do you think he’s messing around?”

“With that girl? I don’t know. Hey, wanna come over? Sherri’s not here and I got a few extra beers.”

“Uh, I don’t know.”

“C’mon, please? It’ll help you take your mind off Trevor.”

In her marriage bedroom, Rose stood before their disheveled blankets, staring into space, with the phone clutched tightly in her hand. She walked out into the kitchen and turned around in a circle, drinking in the silence. Trevor would have been done with work hours ago, yet he wasn’t here.

She went to the fridge, took the hamburger that she was supposed to make dinner with, and tossed it into the trash.

From "Megalodon Lives" by Flash Rex

"What are you doing?  You idiot!  Give me that damn thing!"  I grabbed the scoop out of Grimshaw's hand.  He looked up in surprise and pushed his glasses back up.

"What does it look like I'm doing?  I'm throwing the chum out!"

"Do you remember me telling you to?"

"What's the problem?  You said chum attracts sharks so I threw the chum in the water.  I don't want to spend the rest of my life on this boat looking for a shark so I decided to start.  I should be asking you what you've been doing while I've been working!"

"You moron!"  I pointed to the slick.  "Do you see that line in the water?  That's the chum you've been throwing out.  Do you see where it leads?"

"Over there.  So what?"

"That's Jones Beach, you jackass!  There are going to be thousands of people on that beach today and you attracted every shark in the area right to them!  That's what!"

"I didn't know!  How was I supposed to know?"

"You weren't supposed to know!  That's why I'm in charge!  From now on you do what I say!  Understand?"

"Yeah."

"Good.  Now pray nothing happens on that beach today."

From "No Wings Attached" by Stella Deleuze

He was about to reply, but she cut him short:

'I'm not negotiating. You failed with that desperate woman who needed a bit of luck. And what did you do? Delivered what? You can't drive a tank in London! No wonder she freaked out.' I open my mouth to reply, but she holds a hand up.

'They wanted to bring her into a clinic, a person with no mental problems. Yes, she wanted a tank, but one to keep fish, not a military vehicle!' Christine shakes her head, although her red lips pull into a tiny smile. I grin, pretending to look at the painting behind her.

'What were you thinking?' I can sense even she has trouble staying serious. 'I had to send one of my best helpers to save the woman's luck. Get this case right and we'll see how we go from there. This woman, Celia, needs the basics first! The bosses expect you to succeed. See this as a chance to make up for the last time.' I choke down my answer. I'd just misunderstood the wish. A tank's a tank, isn't it?